Is everybody ‘normal?’ Is anybody ‘normal?’

 

I often think back to the first 18 years of my son’s life when he was perceived as being the same as everybody else. Then, when things started to change, there were many people called him schizo, crazy, mad in his head. BUT, our family always called him by his name – Doron.

Our son wanted to get well. He wanted to love and be loved but most of all he needed the peace of mind that the rest of us take for granted. That peace of mind eluded him even though he took his medication religiously. He tried every new tablet until there were no new meds to take. So, his doctors gave him what we referred to as a ‘salad of meds’ where they mixed a few together. Later, he returned to the psychiatric hospital once a month to get a long lasting shot.

 

Why do you tell your story?

             I am not a professional in the field of mental health, so all I can do is tell my story from my point of view and I want  to tell it as it should be told.

• I tell my story to make it more difficult for people to close their eyes as well as their hearts to the mental illness around them. Most of us know someone who has some kind of brain illness.
• I tell my story in order to gain empathy for the people out there who are mentally challenged as well as to let them know that they are not alone.
• I tell my story as I need to try and convince  people of the importance of early intervention.
• If more of us tell our stories, somehow, the professional people out there might listen and believe.
• No politician truly believes that he/she will gain more votes by devoting more time and money to the issue of mental illness. But, maybe that time is NOW.
• I tell my story, the story of one family, but it is actually the story  of millions of families living with mentally ill relatives anywhere in the world from Alaska to Africa.
• So, in my blog, I aim to tell my story in the hope that one day, there will be less stigma toward mentally challenged people in the world. If we all Speak out,  maybe some of the people out there will listen, believe, and even act on our behalf.

READ DAVID’S STORY by Jill Sadowsky.

ORDER from Amazon’s Kindle Store or on Smashwords.

Read: THE LAST CALL by Jill Sadowsky in the HIDDEN LIVES Anthology. Canada’s Brindle and Glass are now promoting this Anthology containing stories on mentally challenged people.

This blog ends with a four – letter – word

I have lived through a great deal of sadness, shock and grief and I managed to survive each time. My children did too. We all learned to move on and overcome adversity.

I even learned to dream a bit. Every single week I dream I’m going to win the lottery. I dream that cyclamens will bloom again in my lawn the way they did so mysteriously last year. I dreamed that my eight-year-old-car would pass the licensing test again this year – and it did!

More than anything else, I dream that my family will remain healthy. I also dream of a world without illness and senseless violence. I believe that  circumstances will change for the better in the future.

Nobody can live without hope. In fact, the four letter word I wrote about is    H    O    P    E.

 

 

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E.C.T. stands for Electro Convulsive Therapyo

ECT is recommended when treating severe depression, and in certain cases for schizophrenia in combination with neuroleptic drugs. Over the years, this treatment has been controversial but psychiatrists in general feel that it can speed improvement where schizophrenia is concerned.

ECT conjures up furightening images as the public’s perception of this treatment comes from movies alone. People believe that  ECT is dangerous and can cause brain damage.

iAccording to NAMI, the American Mental Health Association, 1.1% of the adult population in the USA live with schizophrenia. So it is not a rare illness.

After extensive research on the subject when my son’s doctors suggested that he undergo ECT,m as all other treatments failed to help his paranoid schizophrenia, we eventually agreed, and rather reluctantly, signed the form put before us and were told that the following day our son would undergo ECT. When we arrived at the hospital, we found our son in a state of extreme unrest and upset. “Mom, Dad, the world has gone crazy,” he shouted. ” My doctor wants me to sign a form giving him permission to  administer ECT. I won’t agree, do you hear me? Not now! Not ever!” And that was that. To this day we have never understood how a person as ill as Doron was, could be asked to sign such an important, maybe even life-saving document. Maybe things  have changed since then. If so, I would like to know more about it.

 

 

 

Is every person with depression an automatic public safety risk?

 

In 2014, over a year ago, I wrote a blog on this site with the heading;

How often is a pilot’s mental health tested by a registered psychiatrist with infinite experience? When is he/she tested? When that person applies for this most responsible of positions? Is that person tested every two years, every four years?  In that blog,also wondered why the black box found on every aircraft is not far more sophisticated than it is today. Surely in today’s age of high-technology this most important issue could be handled electronically?

2015 While the outrage about the Germanwings A320 plane that crashed is understandable, some newspapers have linked depression with violence and murder. When it emerged that Andreas Lubitz had atually had a history of depression and had seen a doctor, does that underline the fact that all people with depression are automatic risks to public safety? Given some of the media headings, one would think so.

Lubitz might have hidden his depression from his employers due to the stigma associated with mental illness as it’s never easy to admit that one needs time off due to a depression. Whatever his reason might have been, we do have to be careful not to lump  everyone in the same category.

My heart goes out to all the families who lost near and dear ones in this unneccessary and shocking plane crash. May God be with you all.

I  do have compassion in my heart for Mr. and Mrs. Lubitz and their immediate family members. If their son, Andreas was in a depression, they need to know that mental illness is nobody’s fault. I cannot begin to envision what they must be going through.